After the second match was abandoned due to rain, Afghanistan made one change for the third match, with Samiullah Shenwari coming in for Gulbadin Naib. Ireland brought in Andy McBrine and James Cameron-Dow for James McCollum and Barry McCarthy.
Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first, but suffered an early loss when Mohammad Shahzad was lbw to Tim Murtagh. They then lost Rasmat Shah lbw to McBrine for a single. Hazratullah Zazai and captain Asghar Afghan added 30 for the third wicket, but then Zazai, who had hit 2 sixes, was run out for 34. Next man to fall was Hashmatullah Shahidi, bowled by Cameron-Dow for 11, followed in the next over by Samiullah Shenwari, caught by Andrew Balbirnie off George Dockrell.
However, Afghan and Najibullah Zadran got their side out of trouble with a stand of 117 for the sixth wicket, with the captain providing a lead with 75 which contained 3 sixes and 4 fours. He fell for 75, caught by Kevin O’Brien off the bowling of Boyd Rankin, who, almost immediately afterwards, had Mohammad Nabi caught behind.
Zadran now assumed full responsibility for the Afghanistan innings, and he steered them almost by himself to a big score. He shared a stand of 47 for the eight wicket with Rashid Khan, who only scored 8 but hung around long enough for Zadran to close in on his century, and when he fell off the bowling of Murtagh, Dawlat Zadran kept his namesake company for the last 7 balls, as his namesake Najibullah reached his first ton in ODIs, closing on 104 not out, including 5 sixes and 5 fours. He had helped his side to 256 – 8, a tough target for the Irish to chase in Dehradun.
Their job became even harder when they lost their captain William Porterfield early in their reply, lbw to Mujeeb Ur-Rahman. They stumbled even more when Paul Stirling was caught by Afghan off the bowling of Dawlat Zadran for 20, with the same bowler accounting for Simi Singh three balls later. However, Balbirnie and O’Brien shared a stand of 44 for the fourth wicket, and when O’Brien was caught by Afghan, this time off the bowling of Shenwari for 21, Balbirnie combined with George Dockrell in a partnership of 143 for the 5th wicket that as good as won the match for their side.
Dockrell eventually fell for 54, stumped off the bowling of Nabi, but, despite the loss of Stuart Poynter to Rashid, McBrine helped see them home. He was nine not out at the end, whilst Balbirnie, who had reached his second ODI century, was 145 not. It was his highest score in limited overs cricket and featured 9 sixes and 8 fours, including the boundary that sealed the match for his team.
Balbirnie deservedly won man of the match.